"And if thou go astray?"

"I have a plan."

"But if the plan is imperfect?" asked the pharaoh, unable to hide his anxiety.

"But, holiness, if thou obtain not the treasures of the labyrinth? If the Phnicians change their minds and refuse the promised loan? If the army be hungry, and the hopes of the common people be deceived? Be pleased to believe me, lord," continued the priest, "that I amid the corridors of the labyrinth shall be safer than thou in thy kingdom of Egypt."

"But the darkness--the darkness! And the walls which one cannot break through, and the depth, and those hundreds of ways in which he who enters must lose himself. Believe me, Samentu, a battle with men is amus.e.m.e.nt, but a conflict with darkness and doubt--that is dreadful."

"Holiness," answered Samentu, smiling, "thou dost not know my life. At the age of twenty-five I was a priest of Osiris."

"Thou?" asked Rameses, with astonishment.

"I, and I will tell at once why I pa.s.sed to the service of Set. They sent me to the peninsula of Sinai to build a small chapel for miners.

The labor of building continued six years. I had much free time and wandered among mountains, examining the caves in them.

"What have I not seen in those places! Corridors so long that it took hours to pa.s.s through them, narrow entrances through which if a man pa.s.ses he must crawl on his stomach; chambers so immense that in each a whole temple might find room sufficient. I saw underground rivers, lakes, crystal chambers, dens totally dark in which no man could see his own hand, again others in which there was as much light as if a second sun had been shining there.

"How often have I been lost in countless pa.s.sages, how often has my torch gone out, how often was I approaching an unseen precipice? I have pa.s.sed many days in subterranean places, living on parched barley, licking the moisture from wet rocks, not knowing whether I should ever see this upper world again.

"But I gained experience. My vision grew sharp and I even came to love those underground regions. And to-day when I think of the childish recesses of the labyrinth I am ready for laughter. Edifices built by men are like mole-hills when compared with the immense structures reared by those silent and invisible earth spirits.

"But once I met a dreadful thing which brought me to change my position. West from the quarries of Sinai is a group of ravines and mountains among which subterranean thunders are heard frequently, the earth trembles, and flames are seen sometimes. I was made curious, so I went there for a longer visit. I sought, and, thanks to an inconsiderable opening, I discovered a whole chain of immense caves under the arches of which it would be possible to place the largest pyramid.

"When I wandered into those places I was met by a smell of putrefaction, a smell so strong that I wished to flee from it. But, conquering myself, I entered the cave whence it came, and beheld-- Imagine, lord, a man with legs and arms shorter by one half than ours, but thick, awkward, and with claws at their extremities.

Add to this figure a broad tail, flattened at the side, indented like the comb of a c.o.c.k, a very long neck, and on it a dog's head. Finally, dress this monster in armor covered on the back with carved spikes.

Now imagine that figure standing on its feet with arms and breast resting against a cliff--"

"That was something very ugly," put in Rameses; "I should have killed it immediately."

"It was not ugly," answered Samentu, shaking himself. "For think, lord, that monster was as tall as an obelisk."

Rameses made a movement of displeasure.

"Samentu," said he, "it seems to me that thou didst visit thy caves in a dream."

"I swear to thee, holiness, by the life of my children!" exclaimed the priest, "that I speak truth. Yes; that monster in the skin of a reptile covered with a scaly armor, if lying on the ground, would with its tail be fifty paces long. In spite of fear and repulsion I returned a number of times to that cave and examined the creature most carefully."

"Then it was alive?"

"No, it was dead. Dead a very long time, but preserved like our mummies. The great dryness of the air preserved it, and perhaps some salt of the earth unknown to me.

"That was my last discovery," continued Samentu. "I went no more into caves, for I meditated greatly. 'Osiris,' said I, 'creates lions, elephants, horses, and Set gives birth to serpents, bats, crocodiles; the monster which I met is surely a creation of Set, and since it exceeds everything known by us under the sun, Set is a mightier G.o.d than Osiris.'

"So I turned to Set, and on returning to Egypt fixed myself in his temple. When I told the priests of my discovery they explained to me that they knew a great many monsters of that sort."

Samentu drew breath, then continued,--

"Shouldst thou desire to visit our temple at any time, holiness, I will show thee wondrous and terrible beings in coffins: geese with lizards' heads and bats' wings. Lizards like swans, but larger than ostriches, crocodiles three times as long as those which live now in the Nile, frogs as bulky as mastiffs. Those are mummies, or skeletons found in caves and preserved in our coffins. People think that we adore them, but we merely save them from decay and examine their structure."

"I shall believe thee when I see them myself," replied the pharaoh.

"But tell me, whence could such creatures come?"

"The world in which we live, holiness, has suffered great changes. In Egypt itself we find ruins of cities and temples hidden in the earth deeply. There was a time when that which is now Lower Egypt was an arm of the sea, and the Nile flowed through the whole width of our valley.

Still earlier the sea was here, where this kingdom is now. Our ancestors inhabited the region which the western desert has taken.

Still earlier tens of thousands of years ago the people were not as we are, they rather resembled monkeys, but they knew how to build huts, they had fire, and they used stones and clubs in fighting. There were no horses in those days, nor bulls; while elephants, rhinoceroses and lions were three or even four times as large as those beasts are in our time.

"But enormous elephants were not the first creatures. Before them lived immense reptiles: flying, swimming, and walking. Earlier than the reptiles in this world there were only snails and fish, and before them only plants, but plants such as exist not at present."

"And still earlier?" inquired Rameses.

"Still earlier the earth was empty and void, and the spirit of G.o.d moved over the waters."

"I have heard something of this," said Rameses, "but I shall not believe it till thou show me mummies of monsters which, as thou sayst, are in thy temple."

"With permission, holiness, I will finish what I have begun," said Samentu. "When I saw that immense body in the cave at Sinai fear seized me, and for two years or more I entered no cave of any kind.

But when priests of Set explained to me the origin of such wonderful creatures my alarm vanished and curiosity rose up in place of it. I have no pleasanter amus.e.m.e.nt to-day than to wander in subterranean places and search for ways amid darkness. For this reason the labyrinth will not cause me more trouble than a walk through the pharaoh's garden."

"Samentu," said the sovereign, "I esteem thy marvellous daring and thy wisdom; thou hast told me so many curious things that indeed I myself have conceived a wish to examine caves, and some time I will even go with thee to Sinai. Still I have fears as to thy conquest of the labyrinth, and in every event I will summon an a.s.sembly of Egyptians to empower me to use its treasures."

"That will do no harm," replied the priest. "But none the less will my labor be needed, since Mefres and Herhor will never consent to yield the treasure."

"And art thou sure of success?" inquired Rameses persistently.

"Since Egypt is Egypt," said Samentu, "there has not been a man who had such means to win victory as I have. This encounter is for me not even a struggle, but an amus.e.m.e.nt. Darkness terrifies some men; I love darkness and can even see in the midst of it. Others are unable to guide themselves among the numerous chambers and corridors; I shall do that very easily. Besides, the secrets of opening hidden doors are unknown to other men, while I know them thoroughly.

"Had I nothing beyond what I have recounted I should discover the ways of the labyrinth in one month or in two, but I have besides a detailed plan of those pa.s.sages and I know the expressions which will lead me from hall to hall. What then can hinder me?"

"Still doubt is concealed at the bottom of thy heart; thou didst fear that officer who seemed to pursue thee."

The priest shrugged his shoulders.

"I fear nothing and no man," replied he with calmness, "but I am cautious. I provide against everything, and I am prepared even for this, that they may seize me."

"Dreadful tortures would await thee in that case!" whispered Rameses.

"No tortures. I shall open a door directly from the subterranean chamber of the labyrinth to the land of endless light."

"And wilt thou not be sorry for me?"

"Why should I? I aim at a great object; I wish to occupy Herhor's place."

"I swear that thou shalt have it."

"Unless I perish," added Samentu. "But if I go along precipices to mountain summits, and in that wandering my foot slips and I fall, what does it signify? Thou, lord, wilt care for the future of my children?"

"Go forward," said Rameses. "Thou art worthy to be my foremost a.s.sistant."